Britain Does Owe Reparations
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor's viral Oxford Union speech dismantling the argument that British colonialism benefited India.
Why we picked this
The speech that went viral across India and forced a long-overdue reckoning with colonial history. Tharoor is surgically precise.
In 2015, Indian politician and author Shashi Tharoor stood up at the Oxford Union and did something remarkable: he dismantled two centuries of colonial apologetics in under 16 minutes. Point by point, statistic by statistic, he made the case that British rule didn’t develop India — it systematically drained it.
The speech went viral almost immediately, racking up millions of views and prompting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to publicly praise it. Tharoor later expanded the argument into a bestselling book, “Inglorious Empire,” but the original speech remains the most potent version — compressed, passionate, and impossible to dismiss.
What makes it work isn’t just the argument but the setting. Tharoor is standing in the heart of one of Britain’s oldest institutions, making his case with the eloquence and precision that institution prizes most, and the audience knows they’re watching something they can’t look away from.